Feeding and positioning mechanism.



F. R. HARRIS. FEEDING AND POSITIONING MECHANISM.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 16, 1908.

Patented Nov. 12, 1912.

6 SHEETSSHEBT 1.

P. R. HARRIS.

FEEDING AND POSITIONING MECHANISM.

APPLICATION FILED NOV.16, 1908. L44 4 Patented Nov. 12, 1912.

6 SHBIITSSHEET 2.

F. R. HARRIS.

FEEDING AND POSITIONING MBGHANISM.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 16, 1908.

Patented Nov. 12, 1912.

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P. R. HARRIS.

FEEDING AND POSITIONING MECHANISM.

APPLICATION FILED NOV.16, 1908.

Patented Nov. 12, 1912.

6 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

P. R. HARRIS.

FEEDING AND POSITIONING MECHANISM.

APPLICATION IILBD NOV. 16, 190B.

Patented Nov. 12, 1912.

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FEEDING AND POSITIONING MECHANISM.

APPLIUATION FILED NOV. 16, 1908.

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FRED R. HARRIS, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASS IGNOR TO THE AMERICAN TOBACCO OOIVI- PANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION NEW JERSEY.

FEEDING AND POSITIONING MECHANISM.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. is. rare.

Original application filedlhfly 2t), 1904, Serial No. 217,306. Divided and this application filed November To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRED R. HARRIs,a citizen of the United States, residing at New York city, county of New York, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Feeding and Positioning Mechanism, fully described and represented. in the following specification and the accompanying drawings. forming a part of the same. I i

This invention relates to sheet feeding and positioning mechanism, and the object of the invention is to produce such mechanism whereby sheet lengths of material may be successfully severed from a strip of material and advanced into a desired position with relation to devices by which the sheet is to be manipulated, and to provide further for causing the successive sheets to be severed from the strlp on lines bearing a desired relationor position to registering devices on the strip. i A' full understanding of the invention can best be given by a detailed description of a preferred construction embodying the various features thereof, and such a descrip tion will now be given in connection with the accompanying drawings showing such a construction forming part of a box-covering machine.

The box covering features of the machine shown in the drawings is claimed in my Patent No. 904,426, dated November 17th, 1908, of the application for which patent this application is a division.

In said drawings:Figure 1 is. a side view of a box covering machine provided with a strip feeding and pasting and sheet severing and positioning devices constructed in accordance with the invention; Fig. 2 is a plan view of the machine shown in Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is an end view looking in the direction of the arrow 3 of Fig.1, and showing the frame partly in section;Fig. 4 is an enlarged plan view of a portion of the ma- Ehine with parts'removed; Fig. 5 is a longitudinal sectional view taken on line 5 of Fig. 2 on the scale of Fig. 4:. Fig.6 is'a longitudinal sectionalview of the strip feed- Serial'No. 462,792.

and box covering devices, looking in the direction of the arrow 8 of Fig 2.

In the machine shown in the drawings, the strip :20 of coveringmaterial is drawn from a web roll supported on'a shaft carried by suitable hangers 10 by means'of a pair of feeding rolls 11 from which it passes between a pasting roll 12 and a supporting and pressing roll 13. The pasting roll 12 is supplied with paste from a fountain 15, the roll being mounted in bracket arms extending from the fountain so as to rotate past the outlet opening of the fountain and a plate 16 adjustable toward and from the pasting roll is provided for regulating the thickness of the layer of paste carried forward by the pasting roll. An adjustable scraper 17 is also provided for cleaning the surface of the pasting roll as it returns to take paste from the fountain. 'The'pressing roll 13 is mounted to more toward and from the pasting roll, as by being journaled in a frame 18 mounted to slide in ways )9. and is held in operative position under yielding pressure by means of a spring 20 acting to press the frame 18 upward toward the pasting r011. A thumb nut 21 on a rod extending downward from the frame 18 serves as a stop to limit the upward movement of the frame and pressing roll, and by turning the thumb nut the position to which the roll may be pressed towardthe pasting roll by the spring maybe adjusted. To permit the pasting roll to be raised, as for the purpose of threading or drawing the strip between the pasting roll and the supporting roll, the fountain is preferably mounted to slide in vertical ways 25 and is supported in Fig. 7, with means whereby it maybe turned by hand for raising or lowering the fountain and pasting roll when desired.

Spring fingers 28 are preferably provided for bearing against they face of the pasting roll to insure the strip leaving the roll as it advances beyond the pressing roll.

The pasting roll and the supporting roll are', geared to turn together by means of gears 30 and 31 respectively on the shafts of said rolls, and are continuously driven by means of a pinion 32 which meshes with a gear 33 on the shaft of the pasting roll, said pinion being driven from the cam shaft 35 by means of a sprocket chain 36. The feeding rolls llare geared to turn together and are continuously driven by means of a sprocket chain 37 from the shaft of the pressing roll 13. The particular strip feeding and pasting mechanism shown and above described formsno part of the present in-' vention, and other suitable mechanism might be employed for this purpose.

. sions between its movement over the sup port. Strip feeding, pasting and severing means comprising means for continuously feeding and pasting the strip, a support beyond the pasting means, and means for advancing the end of the strip intermittently over the support and past severing means are described and claimed in my application No. 182,569, filed November 25, 1903.

Any suitable severing means may be provided. The preferred means shown.comprises a stationary lower blade 40 and a movable upper blade 41 which is preferably pivoted on one of a pair of guide rods 43, and is oscillated intermittently by means of a lever 44 connected by a rod 45 with an arm 46 mounted to oscillate with the knife blade, said lever 44 carrying a cam roll which runs in a cam groove 47 in the face of a cam disk 48 on the shaft 35. A wiper 49 is preferably provided lying above the path of the covering strip to wipe the face of the blade 41 as it rises after making its severing movement.

For drawing the end of the strip of covering material between the knives and then advancing the severed portion of the covertheir feeding ing material, a pair of surface grippers 50 are preferably provided, 'said grippers being carried by a sliding frame or carriage 51 mounted toslide on the guide rods 42 and 43 and reciprocated to give the grippers and return movements by means of a lever 52, the lower end of said lever being connected by a rod 53 with one arm of a lever 54 the other arm of which carries a cam roll running in a cam groove in theface of a cam disk 56 on the shaft 35, the cam groove being formed tovgive the interrupted feeding movement and the re turn movement to the carriage and grippers as hereinafter described. The grippers 50 are carried by rods extending from a shaft 57 journaled in hearings on the carriage 51. Springs 58 on the shaft 57 tend to rotate the shaft to raise the grippers, and the grippers are thereby normally held in the slightly raised position shown in Fig. 8, the rotation of the shaft and upward movement of the grippers being limited by adjustable stops 59 which are engaged by lugs 60 extending from collars on the shaft 57. The grippers being in this normal raised position as the carriage makes its return movement to carry the grippers into gripping position, the grippers will lie slightly above the support 38 so that they may be moved over the end of the covering strip lying on the support without engaging therewith. As the carriage reaches the end of its return movement after the grippers have been advanced over the end of the support 38, downwardly extending lugs 61 on the collars on the shaft 57 engage adjustable abutments 62 whereby the shaft is rocked against the tension of the springs 58 to throw the grippers down into contact with the pasted surface of the end of the covering strip,as shown by dotted lines in 8. The carriage and grippers then start on their feeding movement, to the right in Fig. 8, and the end of the strip is thereby drawn between the severing knives. When a sufficient length of the covering strip for covering a box has been drawn beyond the severing knives, the grip per carriage is momentarily stopped while the severing blade 41 is actuated to sever the strip. The carriage then completes its forward or feeding movement to carry the severed portion of the strip into position with relation to the covering means.

It will be noticed, that the surface contact grippers 50 which depend on the adhesion of their gripping faces to the pasted surface of thecovering strip, form a nonpositive'feeding means which permits of a slip between the grippers and the strip if the movement of the strip isresisted; It is often desirable that the covering material to be supplied to the boxes shall be printed or otherwise provided with suitable lettering or other matter for forming labels or with suitable decorative matter, and when the continuous strip of covering material is printed so that successive portions thereof bear the printed matter of successive covering sheets, it is necessary that successive sheets shall be cut from the strip to correspond with the matter printed thereon To secure this result I make use of a non-positive feeding means, such as the surface engaging grippers ,50, and provide means for engaging registering devices on the strip to limit the movement of the strip by the grippers. Such registering devices are preferintense ably formed by a succession of perforations with which the strip has been previously provided at intervals corresponding to successive sheet lengthsto be severed from the strip. Perforations of a suitable form are shown at w in Fig. 4. To cooperate with such perforations to determine the extent of'movement of the strip at each feeding movement of the grippers 50, a pin 65 is provided projecting slightly above the surface of the support 38, and a presser, formed preferably by a flanged roll 66 carried by a pivoted arm 67 pna rock shaft 68, is provided for pressing the covering material against the pin. S-ucharm and pressing roll are normally held in operative position with the roll bearing yieldingly against the strip of covering material on the support 38 and over the pin 65 by means of a spring 69 on the shaft 68. The shaft 68 also carries a rod 70 extending toward the gripper carriage 51 in position to be engaged by a lug 71 carriedby the gripper carriage before the carriage reaches the end of its return movement, whereby the pressing roll 66 israised as the rod 70 is depressed by the lug 71 and is held in its raised position during the remainder of the returnmovement of the gripper carriage and during the first part of its feeding movement. Then when the gripper carriage has made a portion of its feeding movement the roll 66 is again allowed to press the strip lightly against the pin 65 so that when the strip has been moved a distance to bring another of the perforations w to the pin 65 the pin will be caused toproject through such opening and the movement of the strip stopped, the grippers thereafterslippi-ng on the strip during any further movement they may.

have before coming to rest for the'operation of the severing blades. As the grippers again come into gripping position,the pressing roll 66 is again raised fro-m the strip of material to permit it to be drawn forward another sheet length by the. grippers. It will be seen that by providing such interrupting means in combination with the nonpositive feeding means, and by giving the grippers a slightly greater movement before the rest for the operation of the severing means than is necessary to feed a sheet length of the covering strip, the successive covering sheets will always be cut accurately between the labels on the strip.

For holding the stripof covering material flat on the support 38, a niimber of pressing fingers 72 are preferably provided, as shown in Figs. 2 and 5.- 1

In the box covering machine shown, the covering sheets are carried by grippers 50 into position beneath the end of a box holder 75 so that the central portion of the sheet will lie directly beneath the end box in the holder. The plunger 87 makes its downward feeding movement after the covering sheet has been carried into position and thereby forces the end box in the holder downwardly to carry the lower edge or side of the box against the covering sheet and to force the box and covering sheet downward between a pair of folding and pressing rollers 100 whereby the sheet is folded upward and pressed against the top and bottom of the box so that the sheet will be thereby applied to the box to cover the top and bottom and one side of the box and to secure the body and cover portions of the box together and to form the hinge, all as more fully pointed out in my original application No. 217,306, above referred to. A second pair of rollers 101 is shown beneath the folding and pressing rollers 100 for further pressing the covering material against the top and bottom of the box as the box is moved downward beneath said rollers. The mechanism shown for advancing the boxes in the holder and for moving them successively downwardly between the pressing rolls 100 and 101 and for delivering the covered boxes from the machine is fully described in my original application .No. 217,306 above referred to, and as the same forms no part of the present invention, further description of the same is not made in this specification.

It will be understood that the feeding, severing and positioning mechanism is not to be limited in its employment to the box covering machine shown, or to box covering machines in general,,but that the same may be employed in connection with other machines and in general for any purpose for which it may be found useful.

It will be understood also, that the invention is not to be limited to the exact construction and arrangementof parts shown and to which the foregoing description has beenmainly confined, but that it includes changes and modifications thereof within the claims. r

What is claimed is 1. The combination of intermittently acting feeding means for drawing a strip of material forward by non-positive engagement with the end of the strip, and means for engaging the strip when a desired length thereof has been advanced by the feeding means to hold it from being further advanced by continued movement of the feeding means, substantially as described.

2. The combination of feeding means for drawing a strip of material forward by nonpositive engagement with the end of the strip, and means for intermittently engaging the strip to hold it from being further advanced by continued movement of thefeedingmeans'when desired lengths, of the strip have been advanced by the feeding means, substantially as described.

3. The combination of feeding means for" advancing by non-positive engagement therewith a strip of material provided with registering devices, and means for engaging the registering devices of the strip when the strip has been advanced by the feeding means a sheet length to hold the strip from being further advanced by continued movement of the feeding means, substantially as described.

41-. The combination of feeding means for advancing by non-positive engagement therewith a strip of material provided with registering devices, severing means past which the end of the strip is moved by said feeding means, and a stop member for engaging the registering devices of the strip when a sheet length has been moved by the feeding means past the severing means to hold the strip from being further advanced by continued movement of the feedin means, substantially as described.

5. The combination of afeeding device having a surface gripper for engaging the pasted surface of the end of a strip of material, and means for engaging the strip to hold it from being further advanced by continued movement of the gripper when a desired length of the strip has been advanced by the gripper, substantially as described.

6. The combination of a reciprocating feeding device having a surface gripper for engaging the pastedsurface of the end of a strip of material provided with registering devices, and means for engaging the registering devices of the strip to hold the strip against movement by the feeding device when the strip has been advanced a sheet length, substantially as described.

7. The combination of a reciprocating feeding device having a surface gripper for engaging the pasted surface of the end of a strip of material provided with registering devices, severing means past which the end of the strip is advanced by the feeding device, and a stop member for engaging the registering devices of the strip to hold the strip against movement by the feeding device when the end of the strip has been advanced a sheet length beyond the severing means. substantially as described.

8. The combination of means for feeding a pasted strip of material provided with reg stering devices, a reciprocating feeding device having a surface gripper for engaging the end of the strip of material to advance the same intermittently, and means for coacting with the registering devices on the strip for interrupting the feeding of the str1p when it has been advanced a sheet length, substantiallv as described.

9. The combination of means for continuously feeding a pasted strip of material provided with registering devices, severing means, non-positive feeding means for engaging the end of the strip, actuating means for giving said non-positive feeding means an interrupted feeding movement for drawing a sheet length of the strip beyond the severing means and for then advancing the severed sheet, and means for engaging the registering devices on the strip to hold the strip against movement by said non-positive feeding means when a sheet length has been moved beyond the severing means, substantially as described.

'10. The combination of feeding means for engaging the end of a strip of material, severing means, and actuating means for the feeding means whereby it is given an interrupted feeding movement for drawing a sheet length of the strip past the severing means by the first part of its feeding movement f and for advancing the severed sheet from the severing means by the second part of its feeding movement, substantially as described.

11. The combination of a reciprocating feeding device having a surface gripper for engagingthe pasted surface of the end of a strip of material, severing means, and actuating means for the feeding device whereby it is given an interrupted feeding movement for drawing a sheet length of the strip past the severing means by the first part of its feeding movement and for advancing the severed sheet from the severing means by the second part of its feeding movement, substantially as described.

12. The combination of a feeding device having a surface gripper for engaging the pasted surface of the endof the strip of material provided with registering devices, severing means, actuating means for the feeding device whereby it is given an interrupted feeding movement for drawing a sheet length of-the strip past the severing means by the first part of its feeding movement and for advancing the severed sheet from the severing means by the second part of its feeding movement, and a stop member for engaging the registering devices on the strip to hold the strip againstmovement by the feeding device when a sheet length has been advanced beyond the severing means, substantially as described. 7

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

' FRED R. HARRIS.

Witnesses:

M. E. FINGH, R. J. BoYLAN. 

